Khartoum 'will accept outcome of referendum on spilt of Sudan'

Sudan's vice-president said Khartoum would accept the outcome of a referendum that could split the country in two hours after Barack Obama warned the country that the vote must go ahead on time and without intimidation.

Barack Obama speaks during a high level meeting on Sudan at the United Nations headquarters in New YorkPhoto: EPA

By Alex Spillius in New York

8:54AM BST 25 Sep 2010

Mr Obama on Friday joined an international effort to emphasise the need for peaceful self-determination vote and to contain violence in Darfur amid warnings that failure would lead to a renewal of the 21-year civil war and increase the risk of Africa's largest country becoming a haven for terrorism.

"What happens inSudan matters to all of sub-Saharan Africa and it matters to the world," Obama told the meeting at the UN.

"The will of the people of South Sudan and the region of Abyei must be respected, regardless of the outcome," he declared.

Along with 30 other world leaders, Mr Obama attended an emergency summit at the United Nations and called for the Khartoum government to honour its commitment to help the Christian-dominated south stage the vote on January 9.

Salva Kiir, leader of the autonomous oil-rich Southern Sudan, has warned that any attempts at delay by the north could see "a return to violence on a massive scale".

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Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has called Sudan a "ticking time bomb", while another senior American official has said Southern Sudan was the most likely place for a new genocide over the next several years.

An estimated two million people died in what was Africa's longest-running civil war, which ended with a peace deal in 2005 that guaranteed the south the right to hold a vote on secession.

With the north refusing to cooperate, preparations are, however, far behind schedule. There have also been reports that Khartoum, which is run controlled by an Islamic government, has encouraged violence in the south.

With Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir facing an international warrant on war crimes charges, two vice-presidents represent the divided country: Ali Osman Taha, who speaks for the Khartoum government, and Mr Kiir, the leader of Southern Sudan.

Hours after Mr Obama released his warning, Mr Taha said: "The outcome of the referendum will be accepted by our government."

A delay in the referendum could see the south declare independence unilaterally, raising fears that talks already underway on sharing revenue from oil fields in the south, which make up 80 per cent of the total in Sudan, would collapse.

The international community is concerned that the Islamic government in Khartoum could lose its grip if it loses all of those revenues, increasing the likelihood of the sort of chaos that would allow terror groups to take root.

Mr Bashir, the president of Sudan who is wanted by a UN court on war crimes charges relating to the repression of Darfur, did not attend the meeting.

Though a yes vote is considered the likely result, diplomats said that a strong signal needed to be sent to both to the Khartoum government and Southern Sudan that the votes must be staged on Jan 9 and be peaceful and credible.